Inside of Out
by Supreme-Chickenlord
Summary: When a Meet & Greet goes awry, Riley's mind is left in shambles. -TRIGGER WARNING- Seizures and brain damage. Please note that minor nods to the movie are contained within this fanfiction.
1. Chapter 1

Riley was walking with her parents through the huge amusement park. She was going to the Central Area to meet Pildro, the robotic owner of the park. Pildro was no ordinary robot; he was intelligent. So intelligent, in fact, that he felt emotions. Real ones, not just simulated emotions. He could (and probably still can) speak a number of languages for "Park Service Convenience".

When she got to the Central Area, all she could see was an ocean of people. Clumsily, her family slowly made their way to the center of the crowd. Standing in the center was the shiny, silvery android, Pildro. Pildro was having people take pictures with him, as well as allowing them to engage in short discussions.

Riley eventually made it to the android. She looked up at him, with wide, curious eyes.

"H-hello...", Riley managed to mumble out.

Pildro looked at her, in a natural, unscripted, humanoid motion.

"Hello, I'm figuring you already know my name from the advertisements.", Pildro said with a genuine smile.

"But, just in case... Hello, I'm Pildro. May I know your name?"

Riley tensed up at the question.

"Ri-Ri-...Riley", she quietly blurted.

Pildro could clearly hear the uncertainty in her voice, and so he tried to start a normal conversation.

"So, how has the day been treating you? Have you ridden any rides, coasters, etc.?", Pildro asked calmly.

Riley started to ease up.

"Well, a few... But I've always wanted to meet you, ever since our first trip here. My parents thought that now was a perfect time, since the greet only happens for one weekend each year."

Pildro was impressed over how nice Riley was compared to the other asshol-...kids that he had met and spoken to in the past.

"Ah, I see! So, this is your first visit to the annual PildroGreet, hm? Hey Riley, I have an idea... How about a photo of your first ever PildroGreet, does that sound nice?"

Riley was taken aback at the bot's mention, and recognition, of her name. She slowly nodded her head.

"I'd like that very much."

So, they both stood atop the steps. Riley watched as Pildro gave the photographer a hand signal, and stared forward at the camera. Pildro put his right hand on Riley's shoulder.

"Say, 'oh jeez'!"

Just as the photo was taken, however, something misfired in Pildro, and a loose wire on his right hand sent a sharp 'zap' through Riley's shoulder.  
Riley heard a ringing in her ears, and her vision went blurry.

"Hm? Riley, are you okay?", Pildro asked, with genuine concern.

Riley stumbled to her parents. They looked at her with worry in their eyes.

"Riley, sweetheart, are you alright?", Riley's mother looked toward her husband.

"I... I...", Riley began to sweat and convulse.

"Riley!", her father shouted in horror.

Pildro looked on in horrified shock, a huge feeling of 'oh shit' building up in his body.

"Hey, maybe I can-", Pildro was cut off by the sound of Park Emergency and First-Aid vehicles. Someone in the crowd had notified Park Security.  
The crowd was in absolute horror at the sight. Pildro was certain some had called external emergency services, which... was not much of an issue.  
Now, on the inside of both Pildro's and Riley's mind during this whole event, something extraordinary took place... Well, extraordinarily dangerous.

* * *

Fear and Joy stood at the controls together. Fear, being the cautious one, decided that they would approach the bot slowly.

"I don't know, Joy... What if he malfunctions?"

"Oh, come on, Fear. Riley has been waiting years for this!"

They waited as Riley made her way over to the tall android.

"I can't do this!", Fear shrieked.

"Oh, come on! It's not like he's programmed to kill."

"What if, just... What if, Joy. What if he... m-malfunctions!?"

Joy impatiently groaned.

"Fear, come on. What's the worst that could happen?"

"He could malfunction and become one of those T-whatever things, that's what!"

Joy gave a tired grunt.

"Oh, I'll just-... I'll take over for you, Fear."

"But-"

She put herself in front of the console.

"Hey, what could happen? Just trust me, Fear."

Fear raised an eyebrow at Joy.

"Joy, you've said that before. We all know what usually follows afterwards."

"Oh, can we just-"

Joy sighed.

"How about we do this... together."

Fear relaxed a bit.

"That's... only a tiny bit more comforting. Alright, but under ONE condition!"

"And what's that exactly?"

Fear inched closer.

"If he pulls any sudden moves on us, th-then... then I have the right to activate F.O.F!"

The other emotions groaned.

"Fear, it's-Look, just stay calm, and we'll be able to do this."

"But-Alright, fine! But if anything happens, then... Let's just be careful, please?"

Joy nodded impatiently.

For the next few minutes, everything went fine. Both Joy and fear controlled the console, with professional precision. They were patient as Riley slowly made her way through the crowd.

When they had started to get close to him, Fear grew more and more tense. To him, the seconds had started to feel like minutes.  
Finally, when they had reached him, Fear had nearly passed out.

Standing in front of them was a tall, 6.2 ft. robot, posing with a kid for a photo.

Joy had to admit, he looked kinda intimidating, and was pretty tall as well.

One odd thing Fear did notice, however, was how infrequently he used his right hand.

"Um... Joy? I have a major concern."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"Look... Over there."

Joy looked at where Fear was pointing.

"Um... Well... I..."

Joy sighed.

"Fear, I don't see anything."

"But... But I..."

"Please, Fear. Just trust me."

She smiled.

"I promise, nothing bad will happen."

Fear gave a defeated breath.

"A-alright, Joy. I trust you."

After some friendly (and nervous) conversation, Riley got into position for a photo with Pildro.  
Then, something happened.

A large, blinding flash of light filled Riley's mindscape.  
Fear jerked away from the console, terrified.

"J-Joy, what was tha-JOY!?"

When Fear turned around, it felt as if time had stopped.

Joy was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Joy felt a large wave of energy, the sound of white noise drowning out everything else. It didn't hurt per se, but it did feel extremely unnatural. The only thing she could see was pure, undamped energy. The light slowly started to combine into shapes. Voices, much like what you'd hear on a busy sidewalk, were starting to replace the white noise.

It was a few seconds after that experience that Joy felt herself "coming together". It was similar to the feeling she felt when she was first created.

She opened her eyes.

"What is this place? Am I supposed to be here?", she thought in complete wonderment.

She looked around in pure curiosity, her gaze shifting towards an arrangement of 3 pillars, with an intricate framework of slopes and doors, ontop of which sat a giant, cubic object.  
She unconsciously started trudging towards a long pathway leading into the gigantic object.

"What am I doing here? Where is Headquarters?", she questioned herself.

She watched as strange, polygonal shapes flew through the air. Randomly, they seemed to break apart with a loud crackle, as well as sparks. They looked very much like fireworks, and Joy was entranced their mesmerizing beauty.

"ATTENTION: SLEEP MODE INITIATION SEQUENCE ACTIVE. ALL IMCW PERSONNEL RETURN TO CENTRAL CONTROL STATION."

Joy was awoken from her trance at the sound of the announcement.

Looking around, she saw an overwhelming amount of polygonal beings moving towards multiple slopes, which all seemed to go to the same place. Below them was a pool of smooth, thick black liquid.

"Huh, wait what?". She slowly started to realize a horrifying truth...

She wasn't in Riley's mind anymore.

"Oh... OH! Wait! No! Help! Stop!", she called to the beings passing by her to no avail.

"This... I can..."

She started to run through the crowd, nearly slamming into a few beings now and again.

She started to ascend one of the slopes, almost slipping due to the large quantities of beings traversing up the slope.

She watched the different floating shapes in the sky start to coalesce into a large, polygonal mass. The crackling, sparkling beauty of this mass wasn't enough to distract her, however, and so she continued on.

Before she could even register her location, she was inside of the large, monolithic structure the slopes lead into. A few different looking beings took notice.

"A conscious abstraction, eh?"

Joy did not expect for the beings to speak.

"Well... I, uh..."

"It's fine. Come with me."

Joy did as she was asked.

When they had reached their destination, Joy was flooding with questions.

"Alright, enter here and then take a right."

"But, I..." Joy sighed.

The two beings looked at Joy, a hint of confusion in their faces.

"Listen, I don't know how I got here or where I am, but...", she blurted. The beings listened with full curiosity.

Joy pointed to the doorway leading out.

"All I do remember is suddenly finding myself out... there.", her voice trailed off near the end. Was she dreaming? Do emotions even dream? If she was dreaming, then this dream was pretty lucid.

Joy tightly clenched her jaw. She took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm going to explain this...", she said as she closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

"I'm an emotion."

"Please elaborate."

"... Well, I'm Joy. I'm an emotion. I... lived... inside the mind of an 12 year old girl named Riley Andersen. She went to meet the bot known as 'Pildro'."

Joy paused for a minute, then continued. Her eyes and fists were still tightly closed.

"Everything was going fine, but then..."

She relaxed, and opened her eyes.

"... And now, I need to get back to her. She needs me."

She relaxed her body, her fists uncurled into open palms.

"... Please, just send me back."

When she had opened her eyes, she noticed that the beings were gone. Behind her, she heard a sound of a door opening.

"Here. This is a shortcut to the IMCW."

She internally cringed at the word 'shortcut'.

She pushed forward through the doorway, with a tired, melancholic expression on her face.

She kept walking forward, without thinking of anything relevant. The only things she could think of, however, were several of her past memories shared with Riley.

One part of her wanted to collapse into a pile of Jelly, and another part of her wanted to keep going. She didn't favor either outcome, however.

She made her way through the large, featureless tunnel. She eventually came to a door which was labelled, "IMCW PERSONNEL ONLY: EXCEPT WITH EXPLICIT PERMISSION."

She was about to knock, when the door automatically slid open.

She walked inside, looked around, and collapsed.


End file.
